From Stanley Uzoaru and Henry Uche, Owerri
Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, failed to publicly name sponsors of insecurity in the state after hehad earlier promised to do so at a stakeholders’ forum, yesterday, in Owerri.
He said he declined to disclose their names to allow security agencies handling the matter conclude their work.
He, however, warned former governor, Rochas Okorocha, against fomenting trouble for his administration.
“You know I promised I was going to name those behind insecurity in the state; after that statement, the whole thing was politicised. Social media took over the space, conventional media did not help matters and I don’t want to spoil the good work securities are doing at the moment. I want to crave your indulgence to let the security agents finish their investigations and hold them responsible and charge them to court.
“Okorocha is out of office but he still wants to be in charge, other former governors have respected themselves since they left office, I won’t allow him to be in control.
“Okorocha is a younger brother to me. I am older than him. If not for anything, I deserve to be respected by him. I don’t want to have issues with him but he should know that he is no longer the governor. In the short period I would be there, he should allow me answer the governor that I am.”
Governor Uzodimma, rolled out a 10-year economic plan for the state at the event. He said the 10-year economic plan would outlive him and would be remembered like the legacies of former governor, Sam Mbakwe.
He said education and social infrastructure development would be top priority for his government even as he pledged to stamp out corruption in the public sector.
“I will prove them wrong. They shall find no corrupt act in me throughout my tenure. We shall clear every rot we met on ground. We shall change the ugly narrative in governance.”
The Imo governor said he would recover every piece of land from the wrong hands and ensure that administration of justice and judicial proceedings were improved upon for the good of Imo citizens.
He promised that his administration would build 750,000 housing projects in each senatorial district and resuscitate moribund industries to create jobs for youths.
He called for public private partnership to bring his vision, plans and programmes for the state to fruition.
Meanwhile, the government has said Uche Nwosu, son-in-law to former governor Okorocha has weighty evidence against him.
A statement by spokesman for Governor Uzodimma, Oguwike Nwachuku, said the former Chief of Staff “may be ignorant of the gravity of allegation that led to his arrest by security operatives on Sunday. Or it could also be that he was deliberately trivialising the issue by playing up the sentiment of attempted assassination to whip up public sentiment.
“But the truth is that the police authorities who ordered his arrest have taken his statement, commenced investigation into his case and the fact that he was given bail does not make him innocent of the allegation the way he is celebrating it.
“If he thinks he can throw around Governor Hope Uzodimma’s name and the Government House as the source of his ordeal, he had better look for other conjectures because the police authorities in Imo State do not take orders from anyone other than from Abuja, their headquarters.
“If that was the case during the period of Okorocha, it is no longer the case today. He should rather be prepared to confront one Chibuzo Uchenna, a suspect, who linked him and others to sponsorship of insecurity in Imo State rather than toe the line of his father in-law to point fingers the direction of Governor Uzodimma or Government House Owerri.”
